Old Friends
by JosephineLL
Summary: Daniel meets up with someone he left behind.
1. Chapter One

Title: Old Friends   
Author: Josephine   
Email: Lovellama@aol.com   
Rating: PG-13   
Codes: SG-1, OC, others   
Summary: Daniel meets up with someone he left behind.   
  
~~~~~   
  
"Oh my God-- **Daniel**!"   
  
The shriek of joy echoed through the airport concourse, barely giving Daniel warning before a slim woman hurled herself against him. Only the fact that Teal'c was there to provide support prevented the two people from crashing to the floor.   
  
The rest of SG-1 watched in amusement as the woman stepped back and reached up to take Daniel's face in her hands, a wide smile gracing her own face. Her dark brown hair was cut in a long bob with a heavy fringe, the color echoed in her slightly magnified eyes behind large wire glasses. She was smartly dressed in a brown and green tweed skirt and an Oxford shirt. However, at second glance she wasn't just slim, but rather on the too thin side, and while her clothes were clean and pressed, they were a tad threadbare and had seen better days.   
  
"Where have you been? When you disappeared after your speech in New York I thought something happened to you; I looked in all the hospitals but there was no trace, nothing! Your landlady was no help, that old bat said she kicked you out that morning! I knew I should have gone with you instead of on that dig!"   
  
"Hope… ?" Daniel smiled back at her.   
  
Her hands dropped to Daniel's; she was practically bouncing in her enthusiasm. "What have you been up to, you look great! Do you have some time? I have so much to tell you."   
  
"Um, I think so… " At Jack's nod, Daniel let himself be pulled over to a nearby cafe. Conversation was halted as they ordered and took their cups over to a small table.   
  
"So what **did **happen to you, Daniel? Two years with out a word, after all we'd been through, and now to see you by chance through a crowd in La Guardia… " Hope's voice held more than a touch of hurt.   
  
"Ah, you see…" Daniel took a sip of his Kona blend, buying time, trying to think of a reason she would accept.   
  
"Well let me show you what **I've **been up to." Hope dug in an oversized messenger bag, emerging with a thick portfolio and a triumphant grin. "I've spent all my time traveling to different digs, working for nothing as long as they let me do my own thing every once and awhile. I was with Grupe in Macedonia, and Chung in the Yangzee province… I was even with Miller in Swaziland for a few months." Unzipping the heavy leather case she handed it to Daniel. "Those strange markings we could never figure out what they stood for, I've collected all the ones we ever found **and **the ones I discovered since you left into one database. I still haven't been able to translate them, but now that you're back—"   
  
Daniel mumbled reassuring platitudes as he flipped through the massive amount of information Hope had given him, stunned at all it contained. There were pages after pages of Goa'uld writing, cross-referenced to when and where it was discovered along with sketches of the medium it was found on.   
  
" --I'm on my way to meet with the Jude Society, they're going to cut my funding, can you believe that?" Outraged, Hope pushed up her glasses that had slid down in her fury. "It's not like I get very much from them anyway, you think that for something of this magnitude they could somehow find **a little **money to throw my way— " She paused, something in Daniel's manner as he studied the writing causing her to get suspicious.   
  
Hope stared at him, eyes going wide with excitement. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You found it, didn't you? The proof! Where? How? You have to tell me!"   
  
" –Daniel!"   
  
With a start Daniel looked up at Jack who jerked his head toward a gate. "Last call for our flight. We gotta go."   
  
"Oh, right." Glancing over at Hope, Daniel saw she had just noticed Sam and Jack, and sat blinking in awe at Teal'c, who had what he thought was a reassuring smile on his face. "Sorry Hope, our flight's leaving… " Yanked up by Jack, Daniel stumbled to his feet, still clutching the portfolio. "I'll give you a call, ok?"   
  
" –uh, yeah, sure Daniel… "   
  
"It was great to see you again!" Still pulled by Jack, Daniel gave a small wave, watching as a stunned and lost looking Hope was swallowed up by a mass of travelers.   
  
~~~~~   
  
Sam glanced over at Daniel, who was still absorbed in the Goa'uld writing and ignoring the stewardess' instructions on what to do in case of an emergency. "So who is she?"   
  
"I'm sorry, what?" He looked up at her in confusion.   
  
"The woman that nearly assaulted you," Sam said with a smile. 'Who is she?"   
  
"Oh," Daniel replied, closing the portfolio but marking the place with his finger. "Hope Kylie. We started working together after I left Dr. Jordan. She had some theories about the true age of the pyramids too, so it seemed natural to combine our efforts."   
  
"But you never told her you were working on decoding the Stargate."   
  
"Well, how could I? I was whisked away to an underground fortress, signed a confidentiality agreement, and within two weeks had gone through the Gate to Abydos. Besides, Hope was on a dig in Egypt for a few months, there was no way to reach her in the little time I had before I went to Colorado."   
  
Sam frowned at him. "You didn't even think to have the Air Force drop her a note? She seemed pretty stunned to see you."   
  
Shaking his head, Daniel went back to the Goa'uld writings in front of him. "I'm sure she was fine."   
  
A sigh escaped Sam as she once again thought that for an extremely smart guy, Daniel could be very dense.

TBC


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"Miss Kylie—"   
  
"Dr. Kylie, actually."   
  
The balding, sour faced man sitting in the middle of a row of a similarly sour faced committee smiled humorlessly at Hope. She stood in a huge room, in front of the seven men and women who were arrayed behind a huge horseshoe shaped oak table. The room was gloomy, dust motes dancing through the shafts of sunlight coming in through high clearstory windows. Unconsciously, Hope raised her chin.   
  
"**Dr. **Kylie. You said you had compiled new evidence correlating these… markings you've been archiving?" He looked around mockingly. "And it is… where?"   
  
Hope gritted her teeth at the insulting tone. Ever since Danny left she'd had to deal with condescending jerks like these, without his male presence she was seen as just another witless widgeon with a half-baked idea about aliens and the pyramids. "I don't have it with me. On my way here I met up with Dr. Jackson—"   
  
"Dr. Jackson?" A cadaverous woman in a pince-nez leaned forward. "The same Dr. Jackson you were collaborating with that disappeared over two years ago? You're working with him again?"   
  
Hope swallowed a scathing retort, and smiled serenely. "I only saw him briefly in La Guardia; I showed him my files but his plane was leaving and he took them with him accidentally. However, I hope to find him and finish what we started."   
  
"Which is… ?" This time a portly, pompous fellow spoke up. He leaned back in his chair, interlacing his hands over the straining buttons on his vest. Hope shifted slightly, not wanting to get hit by one when it popped off.   
  
"Dr. Jackson and I believe that these 'markings' are writings of some unknown race that had a strong influence on different civilizations throughout history."   
  
"Dr. Jackson believed that the pyramids were built by aliens. Are you saying these markings are theirs, and throughout our history they have influenced the development of Earth's different cultures?"   
  
Hope and the committee chairman stared at one another.   
  
"Yes, I am."   
  
~~~~~   
  
"Jack, wait up." Still holding the leather portfolio, Daniel jogged down a corridor of level 23.   
  
Rolling his eyes, Jack stopped walking and leaned against the wall to wait. After a long flight and what seemed an even longer debriefing Jack just wanted to go home and go to bed. "What is it, Daniel?"   
  
"We have **got** to get Hope to join SGC." Daniel sighed at Jack's blank stare. "Hope Kylie? The woman that almost ran me down in the airport? The one who gave me this?" He lifted the portfolio and waved it in front of Jack's face.   
  
"Oh yeah. You didn't take your nose outta that thing the entire flight. What about her?"   
  
"She's compiled the most extensive catalogue of Goa'uld writing from Earth cultures I've ever seen. It's the only one I've ever seen, actually. The information in here… " He quickly flipped through the pages. "It's incredible. We could learn so much— "   
  
"How much does she know?" Jack's sharp tone interrupted Daniel.   
  
"Ahh… " Blinking, Daniel thought. "Know? For sure? Probably not much, but I'm sure she suspects quite a bit."   
  
"She talk to anyone else about it?"   
  
"I'm sure she did… " Puzzled, Daniel watched Jack walk away, then hurried after him.   
  
~~~~~   
  
Hope grimaced as she shifted her two bags higher on her shoulder, and continued up the sidewalk. She was hot, sticky, and tired after a very long bus ride back to New York.   
  
With a sigh of relief she spotted her apartment building and wearily climbed the five flights of stairs to her miniscule studio. The place was depressingly bare; anything with any worth at all had been pawned off long ago. Only her most treasured possessions were left: photos of her and Daniel at various digs, arms around each other's shoulders, smiling at the camera, old pictures of her family, piles of research books on ancient civilizations. The photos were tacked up on the wall haphazardly, more to hide the worst of the peeling paint than any sense of composition. Over in a corner by the tiny refrigerator were two banana boxes labeled 'artifacts'. It seemed less someone's home than a transitory motel room.   
  
With a misplaced kick Hope tried to shut the door, dropping her bags and collapsing face down on the Murphy bed. She stared unseeing at the travel clock as it ticked away the minutes, running over options in her head. The Jude Society was her last chance of carrying on her and Daniel's research … no, she corrected herself with a tightening of her jaw, her research into the alien language. Screw Daniel and wherever he had been for the past two years.   
  
Burying her face into the lumpy pillow, Hope tried to figure out what to do next. There was always translation work that needed to be done overseas, it didn't pay well but if she worked freelance her time would be her own and she'd be able to get in some digging at a site or two… of course finding the airfare to get her there was a major stumbling block. She could try and apply for a job at a university or college… of course the fact that she hadn't been published in over three years (even though she had a multitude of articles that just needed a journal with an open mind) would regale her to a TA position or less. Typing papers, digging ditches, selling plasma… sure there were ways to survive, but a vast majority of them wouldn't let her continue her research.   
  
There was always her family… Hope turned her head to stare a picture of a couple with two children standing outside a cabin near the shore of a good-sized lake. Mom and Dad had always supported her although they never really understood what she did. Until one Thanksgiving when Uncle Ted drunkenly kept pressing her and in a fit of pique she finally told him she was looking for proof the pyramids were built by aliens ten thousand years ago. Everyone had laughed until they realized she was serious.   
  
Uncle Ted thought she was nuts and told her so repeatedly and vociferously, her father was mad she was throwing away all that money he had spent on her education by chasing after little green men, and her grandmother lamented Hope was never going to get married.   
  
The next day Hope changed her flight, left early, and hadn't been back.   
  
Daniel, to be honest, had been a godsend. Sure everyone in their field, and beyond, thought he was nuts too, but having someone whose theories matched her own kept her going. They had met on a dig in Egypt, each one trying hard not to look interested in a section of glyphs different than the standard hieroglyphics. Tentative glances turned to cautious questions which led to them staying up half the night comparing notes. They had been nearly inseparable ever since, only splitting to cover as many digs as they could.   
  
Then he disappeared. And came back. And disappeared again, this time with her book. Her life's work, up and gone just like that. Recreating it from her notes could be done, but it would be a bear. She'd rather have the book; however Hope had no idea where in the world Daniel could be.   
  
Bastard.


	3. Chapter Three

An hour later Daniel knocked gently on Hope's door as Jack waited impatiently in the rather sordid hall. To their surprise it swung open. Jack reached under his jacket for his gun as Daniel stuck his head around the frame.   
  
"Hope?"   
  
Yanking Danny back into the hall, Jack gave him a glare that said 'Shut up and stay put' before easing into the room. His eyes took in the cramped, bare space, ending up on Hope's body sprawled over the bed. Moving slowly he placed two fingers on the side of her neck.   
  
"She's still alive," Jack called out over his shoulder.   
  
Without warning Hope grabbed Jack's hand and twisted it around his back, shoving him onto the bed before taking off toward the door.   
  
"Whoa! Hope!" Daniel stepped in front of her, throwing up his hands as she jerked to a stop in front of him.   
  
"Daniel! You scared me half to death!" She glared at him, her heart pumping madly. "Did you bring back my book?" All the frustration of the past few days boiled up inside her as she saw his empty hands. "Where have you been all this time? Do you know what I went through when you disappeared? I thought maybe you went back to work with Dr. Jordan, but they hadn't seen you; Sarah was her usual bitchy self, practically gloating that you finally saw the error of your ways and 'left me'. Do you know how much funding dried up when you disappeared? Stupid, chauvinistic committees— You know, I don't care. Just give me my book and get the hell back out of my life."   
  
Daniel stood silently during Hope's entire diatribe, a sad and sympathetic look on his face. Jack, after squelching his first instinct to knock Hope on her butt, had made himself comfortable, sitting on the thin bed and leaning back against the wall.   
  
Sighing, Daniel rested his hands on her shoulders. "I can't do that."   
  
Hope shrugged them off. "Can't do what? The book or leaving? 'Cause I can help you with the latter, the door's right behind you."   
  
"Both. You were right; I did discover what the writing was. That's part of what I've been doing the past two years."   
  
Crossing her arms over her chest, Hope glared at him. "And you never thought during all that time to pick up a phone and call me? After all we went through collecting that data, after all the ridicule, the scorn we endured, you found the key and you never told me? You son of a BITCH!"   
  
The crack of Hope's palm hitting the side of Daniel's face was loud in the small efficiency; Jack had popped up off the bed as she drew her arm back but was too late to stop the slap.   
  
"Get out, Daniel. Give my book and get out." Hope's voice was thick with emotion as the tears finally fell.   
  
"I can't, not without you," Daniel said gently. "We need your knowledge of the Goa'uld language."   
  
"The- the what?" asked Hope, her anger momentarily forgotten at the strange name for her language.   
  
"Besides," Jack interjected. "You're working for the Air Force now." He ignored the furious glare Daniel gave him as Hope stared at the two men, shocked.   
  
"What? The Air Force? I'm an archaeologist, not a pilot! What does the Air Force have to do with an ancient language anyway?"   
  
"It's a long story, Dr. Kylie." Looking around the tiny living space, Jack frowned. "How much of this do you want to take?"   
  
"Take?" Shocked, Hope looked to Daniel. "What is going on?"   
  
Daniel sighed at Jack's usual lack of tact. "As Jack said, it's a long story… "   
  
"What you know of the Goa'uld language makes you a security risk." Swinging around from inspecting the contents of her dresser, Jack's expression was frank. "A transport is waiting to take us back to Colorado where you'll work with Daniel translating Gou'ald and any other languages we come across."   
  
"You're kidding me! You can't just… conscript me into the military! Daniel, what is going on?"   
  
"Hope, please. We need you, we need your knowledge. Trust me." Daniel held her by her shoulders again, looking into her stunned brown eyes.   
  
"Trust you?" she whispered. "Daniel, you disappear, without a trace, for over two years; I see you by chance three days ago across a crowded airport terminal, and now you want me to trust you, and this man wants to kidnap me."   
  
"Yes, I do. You won't regret it, I swear."   
  
Sighing, Hope gazed at Daniel, his hair flopping into his eyes the way it always did. She reached up, pushing it back, only to have it fall down again.   
  
"Am I at least gonna get paid?"


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four   
  
  
"It's… big." Deep under the Mountain, Hope stood at the base of the ramp with Daniel, staring up at the Gate, the rest of SG-1 arrayed behind her.   
  
Daniel pointed to the inner ring. "You can see the thirty-nine symbols, constellations, really, that make up the Gate addresses. That ring spins, and the seven chevrons on the outer ring are used to lock the symbols in."   
  
"And even thought these Goa'uld use the Stargate, they didn't make it?"   
  
"No," answered Sam, stepping up beside Hope. "We're not sure who did. We, along with many others, just use it."   
  
"Oh." The team waited a moment as she continued to stare.   
  
"Ah, Hope?" Daniel peered at her. "It was a long trip, would you like to lie down? Or something?"   
  
Blinking, Hope turned to him. "I'd like to compare my book to what you have, actually."   
  
Jack, Sam, and Teal'c watched as Daniel and Hope walked out if the Gate room, already deep into a discussion of the possible meaning of a disputed set of Goa'uld markings.   
  
"So she really slapped him?" Sam grinned, looking over at Jack.   
  
"Oh yeah, hauled off and practically decked him." Jack rocked back on his heels. "She's a spitfire alright."   
  
Teal'c, about to ask, closed his mouth as Jack shook his head. Instead he gazed out the door Hope and Daniel had just passed through. "Indeed."   
  
~~~~~   
  
"Hey Daniel." A few weeks later Jack's voice stopped Daniel as he walked past the older man's office; with an inquiring lift of his eyebrows he retraced his steps and walked into the small room.   
  
Opening his mouth to find out what Jack wanted, Daniel was distracted by Jack stretching a familiar looking pink rubbery blob into a thin strand, then twirling it like a jump rope until it twisted back on itself, then starting all over again.   
  
"Isn't that— ."   
  
"Silly Putty, yeah."   
  
Daniel watched as Jack went through the routine one more time, then shook his head slightly as if to jolt himself back on track. "Did you want something-- ?"   
  
"How's Dr. Kylie coming along?" Abandoning the rope trick, Jack rolled the putty into a smooth ball and threw it at Daniel.   
  
Absentmindedly catching it, he threw it back. "Hope? She's doing ok. Apart from the usual shock people get when confronted with interstellar, faster than light travel through a wormhole to other words inhabited mainly by transplanted humans and the occasional alien bent on controlling the galaxy. Why?"   
  
"She getting those Goa'uld writings from Earth figured out?" Jack tossed the ball to him again.   
  
"We're about halfway through." Daniel gave Jack a puzzled look before lobbing the pink blob to him. "Why?"   
  
"Fitting in ok? Making friends?"   
  
Giving an exasperated sigh, Daniel grabbed the putty out of the air as it flew by his head. "As far as I know. WHY?"   
  
"Heard she's been seen a couple times with Johnson."   
  
"Yeah." Daniel glanced down to the side, then looked up at Jack over his glasses again. "I heard that too," he answered tersely. "WHY?"   
  
"Just wondering how she's doing," Jack reply guilelessly.   
  
"Next time ask her yourself." Turning on his heel, Daniel left Jack, feeling irate but not knowing why.   
  
~~~~~   
  
"Have you finished with the Phoenician translation yet?" Striding into their cluttered office, Daniel went to stand at one of the large tables, glancing quickly over where Hope was working on her side of the enlarged room.   
  
She glanced up, frowning slightly at his curt tone. "Nearly. It'll be done this afternoon."   
  
"Are you having lunch with Captain Johnson again?"   
  
"Yes—why?"   
  
"Been seeing a lot of him, then, have you?" Daniel stared, unseeing, at the books before him.   
  
"Not really." Hope, in turn, stared at Daniel, noting the tense set of his shoulders. "Why?"   
  
"Just—be careful around these guys, alright? They don't seem to have much use for scientists."   
  
"Wait a minute." Hope slid off her stool to come around the table and face Daniel. "Are you pulling a big brother act again and warning me off him?" She stared at him in disbelief. "You've got some nerve, Daniel Jackson! You gave up any right you had to care about what happens to me when you decided to stay on Abydos, becoming one with the natives, not even having the decency to let me know what happened to you, not even when you got back!"   
  
"Hope, I explained, I'm sorry I didn't let you know… "   
  
"Forget it Daniel, after two long, **lonely** years someone seems to like me. I've known him less than a month. It's not like I'm going to go out and marry him, for God's sake," she spat out meaningfully. And with that parting shot, Hope spun around and stormed out of their office.   
  
Shocked, Daniel watched her go; dropping his eyes he stared in detached fascination as Silly Putty oozed out from between his clenched fingers.   
  
~~~~~   
  
"You and Daniel arguing?"   
  
Hope looked up from a translation as Sam slid into the seat on the other side of the big table.   
  
"It seems that's all we ever do." Pushing the notebook away, Hope sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm finding it hard to forgive him for taking off two years ago. I thought we were a team, working together on the Goa'uld language, trying to prove the pyramids were older than anyone thought at first. Then he up and disappears, and all the while he had discovered the truth. And he didn't even think to let me know. No 'Having fun, wish you were here. Oh, by the way, we were right!'."   
  
"I know he's beating himself up over it," Sam assured her. "It was just when he got back all his energy was going toward finding Sha're—"   
  
"That's just it," Hope interrupted. "How can I sit here and bitch about him forgetting me when his wife was taken over by the Goa'uld?"   
  
Sam nodded. "Seems to me you both had it pretty harsh. The Colonel told me you were living in a rough part of town."   
  
Shrugging, Hope reached for her coffee mug, then put it back as she realized all that was left was a cold sludge. "Daniel and I were considered crackpots to begin with, then when he vanished, people thought he gave up on our wild ideas. Didn't exactly help the cause. Almost all of what little funding we had was quickly yanked."   
  
Hope shrugged again, giving Sam a too-brilliant smile. "But I'm here now, right?"   
  
"We've only known him a year, but Daniel's pretty special to us too. I think he misses your friendship more than he realizes. So much has happened to him these past two years; you're the only constant he has. This… rift between you is eating away at him." Sam watched Hope as she fiddled with a pencil, shuffling papers aimlessly from one folder to the next. "Do you think you could ever forgive him?"   
  
"I will-- I mean, I have, I just need to swallow my pride and admit it to him."   
  
Satisfied, Sam let the subject drop. "Ready for your first trip through the Gate?"   
  
"Yep. No. I don't know. Maybe?"   
  
Sam nearly laughed at Hope's stricken face. "It's not that bad, really. You get used to it."   
  
"Walter said it's like a roller coaster, but he's never been through, so how would he know? As long as it isn't like falling. I could never stand heights."   
  
"It is like a roller coaster. Just don't eat anything before hand. I almost threw up my first ride."   
  
Hope looked relieved. "That's what Colonel O'Neill said. About not eating," she quickly added, "not about you almost getting sick."   
  
Sam grinned at her. "You'll be fine."   
  
"Sure," she agreed unconvincingly. "Fine."


	5. Chapter Five

"Not fine, not fine… " Hope chanted to herself as she stumbled through the event horizon, leaning on the closest member of SG-7 for dear life.  "Sorry."  She flashed him a weak grin, then straightened up to take her first look at an alien planet.

"What do you think?"

Turning, Hope faced a reserved Daniel.  "I know you said most of the worlds you've been to are a lot like Earth, but I was hoping for… "  Here she trailed off, going back to the innocuous planet and frowning at it. 

"Pink skies?  Blue plants?"

Hope glared at him in a mocking way, glad to see a smile on his face.  "Maybe," she admitted reluctantly.

"The temple is over this way."  Striding down the stone Gate steps, Daniel slowed to let Hope catch up, then the pair walked down a newly widened path, following the rest of the SG-7.

"Wow."  Hope's steps faltered as the immense shoebox shaped temple came into view.  "Baal.  But I've never seen one in such good shape."  She laughed.  "Actually, I've never seen one that wasn't almost an utter ruin." 

Daniel nodded.  "We believe it's only been abandoned for the past two hundred years."  He and Hope slowly walked around the building, pointing out to each other little pieces of classic Phoenician architecture. 

"It's amazing."  Reaching out, Hope stoked the huge emerald column to the right of the large double doors.  "Astarte's and Baal's betyls," she said almost to herself, looking over at the gold column to the left.  "And the inside?"

"The layout is exactly what we expected.  The Ulam, the Hekal, and what should be the Debir.  Let's go in, they're about to unseal the inner doors."

Following Daniel up the wide steps to the open temple doors and through the shallow anteroom Ulam to the larger Helkal.  High inset windows let light through on the west side, highlighting the golden winged sphinxes and the lotus pattern painted on the red wood paneled wall.  Braziers were placed between the sphinxes, in amazingly good shape for how old they were, as were the incense burners hanging from the ceiling.  

Hope took it all in in wonder, her neck craning upward to try and see everything, almost stumbling over her feet again.  "It's just like King Solomon's temple, but… more," she said in an awed whisper.

Chuckling, Daniel agreed.  "For an ugly snake-like parasitical species, the Goa'uld are extremely vain," he informed her, glancing around the temple.  "Actually this is on the restrained side for them."  Pushing up his glasses, Daniel gave Hope a wry grin.  

Walking around the alter at the foot of a set of steps and doors that mirrored those outside the temple, the pair looked up at the entrance to the Debir where Sam stood with Major Crandall, the leader of SG-7.

"Daniel, come look at these readings," Sam tossed over her shoulder, her eyes still on the meter in front of her.  Hope trailed after him, staying a few steps down, interested in what Sam had found although sure she wouldn't be able to understand half of it.

"We've got a Goa'uld energy signature; faint, but definitely there," muttered Sam, still absorbed in the readings they were getting.  She raised her head, taking in the tall doors, carved with the reoccurring lotus theme picked out in gold.  "I'm not sensing any traps around the doorway… "  Reaching for her radio, Sam opened a channel.

"Colonel, we're ready to open the inner doors."

"Roger, we're on our way," Jack's disembodied voice crackled back.  

Daniel moved closer to examine the doors, Hope coming up beside him to get a good look herself.  "So.  Inside should be… " he trailed off, glancing over at her.

She smirked at him.  "If you don't know, just say so, Dr. Jackson.  Probably a statue of Baal on a throne.  Some heifers too, if I'm not mistaken, remember that poem found in Syria?"  Peeking at Daniel from the corner of her eye, Hope continued.  "Baal makes love to a heifer in Debir, a young cow in the fields of Shimmit-- "

"Yes, well," he cut her off before she could go any further, peering over his shoulder to see if Sam or Major Crandall had heard anything.  "Debir in this case was probably the city, not the Holy of Holiest in his temple."

"Oh, you never know, Baal's consort Anath was the goddess of fertility, who knows what they had going on in there."  Hope giggled as Daniel stared over his glasses at her, and she dropped her chin to do the same.  "Come on, Daniel, you never used to be this uptight.  You'd quote that poem—and the others they found—trying to get the local girls to give you more than the time of day."

"If I remember rightly, Dr. Kylie, I only did that once," Daniel answered back arrogantly.  "And besides, I was drunk at the time."

"Three sheets to the wind was more like it," snorted Hope, laughing at the sheepish grin spreading over his face.

"Ok, kids, ready to blow this thing?"  Jack's semi enthused voice cut short their bantering.  Hope looked panicked at the thought of explosives being used on the door; Daniel gave her a reassuring pat on the arm and a smile.

Jack rested a hand on his P90 and looked at his resident archaeologists, his gaze going from Daniel to Hope, then back to Daniel.  "You two want to do the honors?"    

"Ah, sure."  Turning to face the doors again, Daniel braced his hands against one, Hope jumping forward to do the same to the other.  "They should swing inward… "  With a nod to her, Danny and Hope pushed, Jack and the others bringing their guns up to cover the entrance.

"Or… maybe they swing out?" asked Jack finally.

"Nooo," Daniel replied, putting his shoulder to the door and pushing harder.

Jack waited a moment, watching Daniel as he strained to get the door open.  "Carter, this thing isn't locked, is it?" he inquired semi-patiently.

"No sir."  Sam risked a quick glance over at Jack, her cheek still resting against her P90.

"You want me to get Teal'c, Danny?"  

"Nooo… " Daniel answered again, both he and Hope starting to get a bit red in the face from the exertion.  Suddenly, with a loud crash, the doors opened and slammed into the Debir's walls; Hope and Daniel ignominiously fell to the ground as their support disappeared.  Jack and Sam leapt past the prone duo, sweeping the inner chamber for any threats.

"I told you!"  Looking up from the floor, Hope smacked Daniel on the arm as they stared at a twenty foot gold effigy of Baal lazing in a throne held up by numerous cows.  The only light in the room was coming from the open doorway, streaming in to bath the idol in a warm glow.  Getting to their feet they moved as one to the base of the statue, grinning like madmen.

Sam let go of her gun to take out her meter again, Jack frowning at her as she frowned at the readings.  "The energy readings have gotten stronger, sir."

"Was this place shielding them?"  Turning, Jack kept an eye on Hope and Daniel as they examined the base of the throne.

"I don't think so, sir."  Sam ran the meter around the room, coming to stand behind the oblivious archaeologists.  "The readings are coming from here."

Daniel and Hope's fingers were running over the recessed sections of the throne base.  "His legs are open for a reason besides to show his… virility, there's probably a compartment in the middle—" muttered Daniel. 

"Maybe one of these knob thingies?" Hope murmured back.  She took the bottom row and Daniel the top, a few seconds later a triumphant 'Aha!' echoed through the room along with a low rumbling as the suspected panel slid back.

"Ah, Jaaaack?"  Daniel peered into the dark compartment, the small space lit by a few lights glowing on a very alien looking device.  "I think we found it." 

~~~~~

Daniel cocked his head, an elusive sound tickling his ear.  "Did you hear that?"  He and Hope had been left in the temple, the rest of the SG teams taking the device outside to see if Carter and Crandall could figure out what it was before sending it back to Earth.

Absorbed in her task, Hope muttered an abstracted "What?" as she transcribed the Goa'uld writing on the Debir walls.  Finally glancing up from her fieldbook, she saw Daniel jog out of the building.  She scrambled to catch up, seizing the book to her chest and blinking in the bright sunlight after the gloom of inside.

At the bottom of the steps to the temple Daniel was talking rapidly with O'Neill while the other members of SG-1 and SG-7 were running off in the direction of the Gate.  Almost falling down the steps in her haste, Hope rushed over to Daniel's side as he pulled on a backpack.

" – to fall back until we know what we're up against." His mouth pressed into a grim line, Jack handed Daniel a pistol.  "Stay put until we come for you."

"Do I get a gun?" Hope interjected.  Jack looked her over.  

"You know how to handle one?"  His tone clearly indicated he didn't think so.

"Of course," she shot back.  "When I was on my own at a dig, I had to learn to take care of myself.  I've used one before, and not on a target."

Daniel was stricken.  "Hope, I—"

Shaking he head, Hope interrupted him.  "I didn't mean it that way, Danny."  Weapon chatter could be heard to the east, a mix of P90s and staff weapons, causing the trio's heads to jerk up at the sound.

"Get moving, Daniel!" Jack yelled over his shoulder as he broke out into a run toward the rest of his team.

Grabbing Hope's arm, Daniel pulled her in the opposite direction.  Giving a little whimper of regret, Hope dropped her fieldbook and ran with him, the gun clutched tightly in her hand.  Tree limbs slapped at their faces as they ran deeper into the woods surrounding the temple; Daniel working his way through in a zigzag pattern, Hope panting as she tried to keep up.  Eventually they dropped down behind an outcropping or rocks, huddling as much as they could under the leaf litter to blend in.

"Rather—Indiana—Jonesish," she gasped, struggling to keep her breathing silent and under control.  

"With a dash of Star Wars."

"Trek," she automatically replied.  "I suppose once we get back home it won't have seemed so bad?"  A longing note of hope threaded her voice.

Daniel shook his head.  "The fear never goes away.  You just lean to live with it."  Hope nodded and slid closer to Daniel, reaching out to clutch his hand with her own.  Squeezing it, he held on to her.

They sat in silence, listening for any sign of a Jaffa search party.  Finally Hope whispered, "I'm sorry I was so mad at you."

His head dropped down on his knees, Daniel shook his head again.  "I'm sorry I left you behind.  I did think of you, but so much was going on, then it was too late."

"It's ok, Danny."  They sat there, huddled together as their heart rate slowed.  "I wonder whose Jaffa they are?" Hope idly asked, not expecting an answer.

"Curious they showed up after we found the place, it being abandoned for so long," Daniel added.  "I wonder if that increase in energy was some sort of signal to Baal that someone broke in."

Hope stared at the pack on his back.  "You have it with you, don't you?  If it sent a signal to Baal, then they can track it!  You have to get rid of it!"  

Daniel shushed her.  "What—what if it's some kind of generator?  Or—"

"It's more likely the Phoenician equivalent of the Ark, Daniel!" she hissed.  "The High Priest probably brought it out to slay Baal's enemies!  Remember how Anath killed all those men at that feast Baal had?  This was doubtless how she did it!" 

"We don't know that!"  Sighing, Daniel took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.  "If it was a weapon they would have taken it with them when they abandoned the temple."

"If it was anything good they would have taken it too," Hope insisted.  "And if something happened to the High Priest the others may have been too scared to go into the Debir to get it, if they knew where it was to begin with."

"We can't just leave it.  If it is a generator, or some kind of-- healing thing, we need to get it back to Earth."

Hope groaned in despair.  "Daniel, think!  Do you really believe **Baal** would have a benevolent device?

"He **was** the god of fertility… "

"He was a sun god with all the violence that goes along with it!" 

"I know, I know!"  Daniel put his glasses back on, stalling for time.  "The Pentagon is always harping about bringing back weapons that will defend Earth against the Goa'uld, and they're right, but sometimes I just want to find something that will do good instead of harm."  Frustration laced his voice as his fist clenched in helpless anger around hers. 

"I understand."  Hope smiled at him, opening their hands to lie flat against his leg.  "So what can we surmise?  The Jaffa showed up soon after we entered the Debir, something must have signaled Baal that someone had broken in."

Nodding, Daniel continued.  "It wouldn't necessarily have been the device itself, but since it does have a Goa'uld energy signature they can track it that way.  They'll be able to find it, no matter if we keep it or leave it here."

"If we leave it here at least we'll be alive, as opposed to being captured and put in a Goa'uld dungeon.  Or dead."  Hope shuddered, huddling back in on herself. 

"So we'll bury it under these leaves, and watch to see who comes for it.  That way we'll know if they really are after it or just here to defend the temple," he added at the incredulous look on her face.  "Maybe it'll be Jack or Sam that comes looking for it."    

"You just keep telling yourself that, Danny boy," muttered Hope, starting to dig a hollow in the leaf litter as he eased the backpack off.


	6. Chapter Six

Many, many thanks to all those who stuck with me through the long wait. My muse had packed up and left, only recently returning and allowing me to finish this. 

* * *

"Be still!" Managing to keep an eye on the pile of leaves covering the device from their vantage point, Daniel glared at Hope.  
  
She glared back. "I'm getting a cramp! And the damp is seeping through my BVDs or whatever they call this getup. How long have we been here, anyway?"  
  
"I don't know. Not long enough."  
  
"How long do we wait? What if everyone's dead? What if—"  
  
"I DON'T KNOW." Daniel sighed in frustration. "I've only been doing this a year. I'm still not used to this," he waved a hand indicating their situation, "or this." Now it was the gun's turn.  
  
"Yeah, you never were too keen on using one of those." With a worried glance at the weapon, Hope reached out and turned it from pointing in her general direction. "I really don't think two pistols are going to be much good against a platoon or battalion or whatever it is that a group of Jaffa call themselves."  
  
"Lucky for you the cavalry arrived."  
  
Jack's unexpected voice made the two archaeologists jump; flipping over they stared at the rest of SG-1 in a mixture of shock and relief.  
  
His eyes landing on the empty pack next to Daniel, Jack frowned. "You didn't lose it, did you?"  
  
"Wha?" Daniel blinked a few times, shifting mental gears. "Ah, no, it's over here." Scrambling to get up, he slid down the gentle slope to dig about under the dead leaves, eventually emerging with the strange piece of equipment.  
  
"Good. Let's go."  
  
Daniel stuffed the Goa'uld device in his pack as Sam and Hope passed him, Teal'c waiting patiently as always to take up the rear.  
  
Hope handed her gun back to Sam, and looked up at her. "So that's it?"  
  
Sam smiled. "You were expecting more?"  
  
"I dunno," Hope shrugged. "I half expected to see a few of those Jaffa instead of you guys." She picked her way over a fallen tree. "Was all ready to shoot something and now... I mean, I'm glad I didn't have to, but... jittery. Like the last time I had to use a gun."  
  
"Were there many?" Waiting for Hope's answer, Sam didn't hear the 'ow' as a tree branch she pushed past whipped back to hit Daniel.  
  
"A couple. Most thought I was crazy to begin with, so they left me alone, but there were a few... "  
  
"It took us awhile to get Daniel to even consider carrying one," Sam confided. Together the women glanced back to watch Daniel as he picked his way through the forest, Teal'c helping with the larger obstacles.  
  
"Daniel has a way about him," Hope finally said. "Besides, he's a man. The vast majority of the cultures I was digging in were extremely patriarchal. Kept their women on a short leash."  
  
Hope broke off as they entered the temple's clearing; coming around to the front of the building she stopped to pick up her discarded fieldbook. Seeing a few fallen Jaffa bodies, a morbid sense of curiosity made her go look at one.  
  
Movement around his abdomen caught her attention; with sick fascination Hope watched a milky white thing with black eyes surface from under the Jaffa's armor.  
  
"Whoa!" Hope danced back, holding her notebook up as a shield as her motions and the sound of her voice brought her into the larva's focus. "Daniel?! Sam?!"  
  
Suddenly the infant Goa'uld exploded, and Hope turned to see Sam lowering her P90. She looked Hope over.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Ewww!" With a moue of distaste Hope flicked snake pieces off her. Sam grimaced in sympathy, plucking a few out of Hope's hair.  
  
"So would that thing have... you know, try to make me a Goa'uld?" Hope asked as she eased away from the remaining Jaffa.  
  
"It looked too young, although it may have tried," Sam answered. "No offence, but--- " Spinning her around Sam looked for an entry wound in case that wasn't the first larva.  
  
"None taken." Hope shuddered, more from the thought of being possessed by one of those things as the cool air on the nape of her neck.  
  
"What happened?" Jack barked out, jogging up to the pair.  
  
"Sir, one of the Goa'uld larva emerged from its pouch. Dr. Kylie saw it and let us know, and I neutralized it."  
  
Jack nodded, looking at the bloody carcass. "Did you check her?"  
  
"Yes, sir, and I didn't see a point of entry."  
  
"Hmm." He looked at Sam, Kawalsky going through both their minds. "Peters! Davis!" Jack's sudden shout brought two members of SG7 running.  
  
"Sir!"  
  
"Escort Dr. Kylie back to the SGC. Have Fraiser check her over; she may have been infected with a Goa'uld."  
  
As one, two P90's came up to train on Hope as she tried to keep the panic running through her under control. She didn't feel any different, but then again, would she?  
  
Slowly, ever mindful of the muzzles pointed at her, Hope made her way back to the Stargate. She really wished Daniel was with her, but he had gone back into the temple after they returned. It was for the best, she figured- - if she had one of those things in her she didn't want Daniel doing something noble and dumb and getting hurt.  
  
The flume ride didn't seem as rough the second time around, although she did have her mind on other things; Hope, along with her escort, stepped into the Gate room to what appeared to be every SF under the Mountain with every rifle crammed into the tiny space.  
  
Then she noticed Hammond and Dr. Fraiser at the base of the ramp, standing next to a gurney with leather restraints on it. Hope's steps faltered, and her wide, scared eyes met the general's.  
  
The affable look in those blue eyes was gone, replaced with a hard, determined expression that finally made Hope realize how he had made it so far up in rank. Glancing over at Janet, she found the same resolution in her face, but with a touch of sympathy that gave her hope.  
  
"Dr. Kylie, if you please." Hammond's sharp voice brought Hope back, and the clanging of their boots was unusually loud as she walked down the ramp, followed by Peters and Davis, ending up in front of the gurney. Surprised to find herself still clutching her fieldbook, Hope gave it to Hammond and climbed up onto the gurney, laying back and closing her eyes tightly as the cuffs were wrapped around her wrists and ankles.  
  
A tear welled up and ran down the side of her face as the stiff collar was buckled around her neck; the gurney began to move to the infirmary and Hope felt a slim hand slip into hers, she clutched at it, thankful for Janet's touch.


	7. Chapter Seven

Daniel ran through the corridors of the SGC, dodging airmen, careening into a major or two. Finally making it to the infirmary, he burst through the doorway, skidding to a halt in front of a startled Janet and surprised Siler.  
  
Finishing bandaging the airman 's electrical burn, Janet waited as Daniel tried to catch his breath, nodding Siler to as he picked up his wrench and left, duty overriding his sense of curiosity.  
  
"Hope. Was... she... " Giving up, Daniel just gasped like a fish out of water, watching the doctor calmly hand the tray of gauze and ointment to a nearby corpsman.  
  
"She's fine," Janet assured him. "Nothing showed up on the MRI. Although she is suffering from mild shock. I tried to give her a sedative and send her home but she refused... "  
  
Daniel merely nodded, relieved, only half listening to the part after 'she's fine'. "Where is she now?"  
  
Crossing her arms, Janet gave him a wry half grin. "She's in your office, which you would know if you had been paying attention." She sighed as Daniel muttered his thanks, taking off for level 18 as fast as he had arrived.

* * *

Hope was doodling Goa'uld glyphs on a notepad, unaware that Daniel had entered the room until he was right in front of her, giving a slight start as she finally saw him.  
  
"Oh, hey Daniel." She smiled weakly, watching as he pulled over a stool to sit on.  
  
"How are you doing?"  
  
One shoulder lifted, and Hope dropped her eyes to the pad. "I'll be alright. Just a little rattled. I think the thing that freaked me out the most was coming through the Gate and seeing all those guns pointed at me, the expression on General Hammond's face."  
  
Daniel took her hand in his, squeezing gently. "They just had to be sure—"  
  
"I know," she interrupted. "Or at least I will, once it sets in. I read the reports about Kawalsky." Hope fell silent, and Daniel just sat with her, waiting.  
  
"How do you do it every time?" she finally blurted out. "How do you go through that Gate knowing they're out there, waiting for you?"  
  
"Because Sha're's out there too. And I won't stop looking until I find her."  
  
Hope pressed his hand, her turn to give him comfort. "And when you do? Will you still go through?"  
  
This time Daniel was silent. "I'll take her back to Abydos, and live out the life we were going to."  
  
"You'll be able to turn your back on everything that's out there? The untold civilizations that have evolved who-knows-how from when the Goa'uld took them thousands of years ago?"  
  
Daniel gave her a smile, the sweet one she had a hard time resisting. "I'd barely begun to scratch the surface of what was on Abydos. The catacombs there were riddled with ancient writings and pictures. And there would be Sha're," he added, as if that explained it all.  
  
"What about you? Are you going to go back through?"  
  
"Yeah," she answered with a chuckle. "I just convinced myself. At least it won't be all the time."  
  
"No," agreed Daniel. "Just every so often. I knew that curiosity of yours would win."  
  
Hope grinned, which at a slight sound from behind him changed to the smile that always made Daniel wonder if the men in Hope's life were blind. Looking over his shoulder he saw Johnson standing in the doorway, not willing to intrude, but not willing to leave either.  
  
"I heard what happened on 6812 and wanted to see if Hope was ok," he said, looking at Daniel levelly.  
  
"Ah, we're done." Getting up, Daniel passed by the blond, compact man, pausing in the hall to watch as him take Hope in his arms as she buried her face in his chest.  
  
Leaving the two, Daniel went to go find his team.  
  
Fin 


End file.
